Four additional medical cannabis dispensaries and one new processor have been cleared to open, as the Maryland’s legal marijuana industry nears its two-year birthday.
The new approvals by the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission bring the state’s total number of operational dispensaries to 69, out of the 102 that received pre-approved licenses in November 2016.
Maryland’s first pre-approved licenses were handed out to growing and processing businesses in August 2016. Additional pre-approvals have since been awarded, and there are 14 fully-licensed licensed growers and now 16 processors in the state.
The commission is working to license as many of the remaining pre-approved retail businesses as possible by the end of 2018. But with 33 dispensaries to go and three months left, the industry will likely enter the new year still below its initial capacity. Meanwhile, the commission is also working to meet new legislative demands, including reforming elements of the commission itself, creating new regulations regarding cannabis advertising and adding 20 new pre-approved businesses to the state’s inventory of growers and processors.